Watch Dogs aiming to compete with Grand Theft Auto

Watch Dogs is hoping to snaffle a few slices of Grand Theft Auto’s open-world pie, and Ubisoft expects the near-future effort’s connected features to grant it an edge.

Ubisoft executive Alain Corre told EDGE that Ubisoft hopes Watch Dogs will become a major brand, like Assassin’s Creed, but in a new sphere.

“What we want with Watch Dogs is to try and crack a new genre, which is the open-style GTA genre,” he said.

“Yes, Grand Theft Auto is one of the biggest brands in the industry and everybody respects the brand and we’ll have fun playing the next one too, but I think Watch Dogs’ positioning is also on next-gen, bringing a lot of features – connectivity, interactivity, companion gaming and so on which is bringing some freshness to the genre.”

Corre said Grand Theft Auto 5’s arrival September release isn’t a problem for Watch Dogs, which is also due at the end of the year.

“When you have a great product in our or any other industry, it also excites the appetite of a lot of consumers in that category. People interested in racing games will buy many racing games if the games are great,” he said,

“So we think that we can even benefit from the fact that Grand Theft Auto is coming. The spirit will be that this kind of game is great fun and I think Watch Dogs can also bring a lot of the same fans.”

EA has made similar comments about the Battlefield and Call of Duty rivalry, and prior to its dissolution THQ aimed for Saints Row to stand alongside GTA as an alternative in the genre.